Public observations on photo detail pages
Turn on Show observations on photo detail for a portfolio so visitors can see species and related facts on a photo page—off by default, with extra privacy for Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered listings.
Your public photo pages can show captions, descriptions, and camera details when you allow it. For conservation albums you can also show an Observations area—scientific and common names, IUCN status, counts, and similar facts—so visitors learn what is in the image without opening your dashboard.
Like Show EXIF, this is off by default and set per portfolio. If there is nothing to show, visitors never see an empty tab.
Prerequisites
- Photo detail pages turned on for the portfolio (Enable Page View)
- Observations already tagged on the photos
- Visitors opening the photo from that portfolio’s gallery (so portfolio settings apply)
Turn it on
- Open the Portfolio used on your public site.
- Go to Manage portfolio → Settings → Visibility & SEO.
- Confirm Enable Page View is on.
- Enable Show observations on photo detail page.
- Save, then open a photo from the live or preview gallery.
While Page View is on you can also control:
| Setting | What visitors get |
|---|---|
| Show EXIF on photo detail page | Camera data |
| Show title & caption on photo detail page | Title, caption, and description |
| Show observations on photo detail page | Species and related observation facts |
| Watermark on public photo detail | Inherit site default, always on, or always off |
If you turn Enable Page View off, the EXIF, caption, and observations switches turn off with it so bio data cannot stay public without a photo page.
What visitors see
When several kinds of details are present, they appear in this order: Caption, Description, Observations, EXIF.
- If only one of those has content, visitors see a simple heading and the content—no busy tab bar.
- If more than one has content, they get tabs, starting with the first available in that order.
Observations appear as clear labels and values (not a long essay). When several animals are listed, each gets its own block.
Privacy on the public panel
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Observations switch is off, or nothing is publishable | Nothing related to observations appears |
| Any observation | Survey and camera-station identifiers and raw station coordinates stay off the public page |
| IUCN Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered | Individual organism IDs and free-text notes stay hidden; species name and IUCN status can still show |
| Lower-risk or no IUCN status | Organism ID and notes may show when you entered them |
Map pins still follow Public map location on the portfolio. Showing species on a photo page does not force exact GPS on your Impact Map. See Impact maps and location privacy for conservation.
Lightbox versus photo page
| Setup | Visitor path |
|---|---|
| Lightbox on | Image opens in the overlay; they can open the photo page from the details control when Page View is on |
| Lightbox off, Page View on | Image can open the photo page directly |
| Observations switch | Affects the photo page only—not the lightbox overlay |
Steps
- Tag observations on the photos you plan to publish.
- Enable Page View on the portfolio.
- Enable Show observations on photo detail page.
- Preview from the public gallery and open a photo.
- Test a threatened-species row (VU / EN / CR) and confirm individual IDs stay hidden.
Verifying your setup
- With the switch off, species details do not appear even if observations exist.
- Empty observations do not leave a blank tab.
- A VU example hides organism ID; a least-concern example can show it when present.
- Albums that only use captions still work without forcing species UI.